TNF and hypertensive disorder: To investigate the cardiac Fas receptor-dependent apoptotic signaling pathways in the coexistence of hypertension and ovariectomy, the protein levels of Fas ligand, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Fas receptors (Fas), TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1), Fas-associated death domain (FADD) and activated caspase-8 in the left ventricles were excised from the WKY, SHR-Sham and SHR-OVX groups and were measured by Western blotting.